Gov. Emmanuel Speaks On PDP Crisis, Urges Leaders To Uphold Their Promises |READ FULL
Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom has called on leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party to uphold their promises.
This is coming amid growing calls for the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu to resign in respect to an agreement that he will do so if the presidential candidate of the party emergences from the North.
Udom, who is the Chairman of Atiku Abubakar’s Presidential Campaign Organisation, said Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and other “dissenting voices” within the party have the right to express their views, noting that they won’t be ignored.
“This is a family business. Nyesom Wike is my brother, you all know that…One thing I discovered about politics and life: people should try to do what they say they will do; that is the cause of some of the problems. If I say I will do B if A happens, let me keep to that. If I say I will do B if C happens, let me also keep to that,” Udom said on Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily.
ALL FACTS NEWSPAPER had reported that Wike’s camp on Wednesday pulled out from the presidential campaign committee, and also Wike’s reaction to that (READ HERE).
Speaking on Thursday, Udom said though it may be lawful for a leader to retain his seat it may also be expedient for him to vacate his position for the sake of peace.
“It is not about mentioning people’s names; everybody has a right to express his views the way he wants. PDP is a family. I can assure you we will resolve it,” he said.
Both Wike and Udom, from the South-South geopolitical zone, had contested the presidential primary with Atiku in May but the Adamawa-born politician won.
Udom described Wike as his “blood brother” and said his dissatisfaction won’t be ignored.
On his absence from the meeting in Port Harcourt where Wike’s group announced its withdrawal from Atiku’s campaign council, Udom said, “Don’t worry about that now. We sensationalise matters a whole lot. What we try to do is that we try to box individuals into our lifestyle, it cannot work like that; we are all adults. We know what is good for us, we know what is right for us.
“So, allow people to air their views but don’t also ignore people. We cannot ignore anybody if we must win elections in 2023. We cannot ignore anybody, we need to go back and carry everybody along. We are not going to ignore any dissenting voice.”
“You don’t ignore issues and believe the issue will go away. This is one thing we will not ignore. We will take it headlong and resolve it,” he added.
According to the Akwa Ibom governor, the disagreement within the party is “not high mountains that are so difficult to climb”.